Our Turn To Get Bizarre Legal Threats From Global Wildlife Foundation

from the you-are-saved-and-wait-for-me! dept

So, on Monday, we wrote about some bizarre legal threats sent to Ken White (aka Popehat) concerning a story both of us had written about years ago. That story was about how a Louisiana zoo called the Global Wildlife Center (apparently run by the Global Wildlife Foundation), got upset about an obviously satirical article about giraffes at the GWC killing people, mocking a recent spate of attacks on humans by animals in captivity. The GWC was briefly able to get an injunction that was quickly removed when someone realized that there's this amazing thing called the First Amendment... For reasons unknown, years later, Ken Matherne, suddenly started threatening White over his original post on the story, which quoted a local news source saying the following:

In addition to filing this lawsuit, via email Global Wildlife Foundation president Ken Matherne threatened to file criminal charges, FCC charges, fraud charges, an IRS complaint, a governor's office complaint, and a federal lawsuit against Brilleaux. Matherne's email did not explain any basis for the additional threats.

Matherne sent a series of emails to White, each more endearingly wacky that the previous one, full of interesting legal theories and creative use of the English language. You can read the details from the earlier post, but just to pass on a few of the more memorable quotes:

I did not say anything at the time. But, I think he would get dis-board by the falsified documents he presented to the judge. His father was a friend or I would have had he dis-board.

We are going to dp this all legal – get ready – I will have one of your partners, associates , friends , spouses, in dispositions for the at least the next 6 – 12 months. Minimum – 1 lawsuit lasted 12.7 years, the next only 6 . I have the means – so write me back or get ready.

Ken It was a BS move – and I appreciate that you do that for the best of people – but you always know our kids are first – and I don't care how many $ it takes – my daughter will not live with this – so I will ask you one more time to pull this down – as a gentleman – or I will come to you! My airplane is only 10k an hour – have more cash & Gold in the bank than you can imagine – but if you hurt my daughter through this – my executives has all authority to go until all is done – I only have 1 daughter and it breaks her heart to see this! I would not do this to you or your family!

And more like that. Anyway, we wrote about that and posted it Monday. Today is Wednesday. At 12:49am California time this morning (2:49am in Louisiana, where the Global Wildlife Center is based), it appears that Ken Matherne subscribed to our daily email. Three minutes later, he unsubscribed. One minute after that, the general catchall email address that is the "from" in the subscription confirmation email, received a message from Matherne with the following subject line and no message:

you are saved and wait for me!

Leaving aside the vague notions of religious salvation, we waited. Not for long. At 1:39am our time, we received a "reply" to the unsubscribe notice that just said:

Get ready!

With anticipation building, we continued to wait (actually, we were all asleep). Eight minutes after that email, we got the following:

What state are you registered in? And if any of your two companies are affiliated - we should start to proceed. My daughter asked me not to last night. But after you new post -- I am coming!

Law is the Law !

Half an hour later (about an hour and a half after he first "subscribed") we get to... well... something:

I will save this - as I will see you in court! You may think this is fun and games - I believe in the law. I believe in the court system. You have just started a conspiracy and you documented it yourself.

So take my foundation down out of your harmful and malice posts or I will spend the next 20 years of my life, with every appeal, and every court to see justice. I will sue you as individuals and corporations - if they are legit.

Gentlemen, I only requested you do the right thing. Now you make the decision. And never use the word that I threaten you. I have been kind and upset, but I would never threaten anyone.

I never raised my voice to my wife. I don't care of your back ground - but through investigation and depositions, I will know each and everyone one of you.

You can print this to under one of you internet companies - but please note that I will hire enough geeks to play fair.

I want an answer by 10 CST that you will stop the damage you and your associates have done. I will have no choice but to proceed to expose you and associates, everything! And I love court and depositions!

I like how he is emailing us after 2am California time, where we are located, and giving us less than 6 hours to respond. While we are curious how reporting on facts means that we have started "a conspiracy," and find it even more interesting that he appears to directly be admitting that his intention is merely to tie us up in court, we believe that he probably should have heeded the original advice of his daughter that this was not a productive path to take.

He might also want to look up the definition of what a "threat" is, because saying that he will spend the next 20 years taking us to court is pretty much the definition of a threat.

Anyway, if there is anything he feels we wrote about him that is inaccurate, we (of course) are open to hearing about it, reviewing the evidence and determining if any correction needs to be issued. Though, as we saw with White, Matherne never seemed to provide any such evidence. Either way, we aren't easily bullied by random threats based on bluster and a weak understanding of the law.

Oh, and we should note that while Matherne was referred to as the President of the Global Wildlife Foundation in that original press report that White quoted, one of our commenters pointed out that Matherne does not appear to be listed as an officer, director, trustee or key employee of the Global Wildlife Foundation, according to its publicly available IRS filings, the latest of which you can see here or embedded below. Other reports have said that Matherne is merely the President of the Foundation's "advisory board."

Either way, I would suggest that his emailed threats to both us and Ken White are not doing the Global Wildlife Foundation or Global Wildlife Center any favors. Also, since I imagine he'll be reading this soon enough, Ken Matherne: I believe in the law, too. And the law doesn't let you just make up reasons to bring people to court because you're upset that those people are reporting on factual information that involves an organization that you are connected to. Again, if you believe there are factual inaccuracies in our reporting, we are happy to review the evidence. Otherwise, continually sending these kinds of emails isn't helping anyone.

As was mentioned in the story on Monday - I wonder if they (GWF) had their web server compromised, and the script kiddies are sending crap out in their name for the lulz? I can't believe somebody could sink even lower than our resident trolls... :-|

Wow. Was seeing my old teacher there for a moment.
He would make a terrible villain in a movie; revealing his plot in the beginning and all.
If the daughter is reading this, then I feel sorry for you because your father is either gonna have to back down or get terribly humiliated later.

Terrible ORM tactic

As an SEO specialist I've seen this insanity way too often.

It is, in almost all likelihood, an attempt to get search results for Ken Matherene cleansed of the old entry that comes up when searching for his name. It really has nothing to do with the foundation if that's the case. Pure personal brand damage "control". Bizarrely addressed in the extreme.

He has no comprehension that he's now done like everyone else who chooses the path of outrage, and just added even more such entries under his search results.

Dear Ken - congratulations. By threatening PopeHat (love how you interpret that moniker as "pot-hate"...) You've now thrown massive volumes of gasoline on your online reputation fire. And by going after TechDirt, you just brought in an entire tree's worth of additional wood for the fire.

Re: What request?

The interesting part is how he is constantly denying that he was threatening anyone when he clearly was. I knew a person who would deny that they were angry when she is having an angry argument with you and you pointed out that she was angry. I wonder if there is a word for those kind of people.

PR at it's worst - What a Maroon... LOL

I've had folks try similar things because I/we have exposed the truth. Worst PR you could ever get, by threatening folks with questionable legal threats. I imagine at some point he will skulk off into the night. While these kinds of things can be disconcerting, they are only feeding their own egos.

Personally I would publicize this till the end of days and encourage others to do the same. If you ask me this is pretty much an "Internet Bully", that has no real means to do anything other than run his/her/it's mouth. Which makes it even more funny.

State Records

You can search the States corporate records here:http://www.sos.la.gov/tabid/819/default.aspx You can not link to results. He is listed asagent, but not a director. He is also associate with several other Louisianna corporations.

Re: Re: What request?

Um no, he requested that someone else, on a completely separate and independent website take down their articles. Unless Mike is keeping mum about it, there hasn't been any requests to Techdirt to take down content.

As the real owner of Popehat, Techdirt and KMart, I assure you I have more than enough cash to dp you legally. My lawyer's address is at http://boards.4chan.org/b/ - just type in all your demands and you will receive an answer very quickly.

Re: Re:

According to the Times-Picayune (http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/02/following_sanctuary_deers_deat.html), he is "Global Wildlife founder". His own LinkedIn page (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ken-matherne/25/9b9/a42) simply has his role as "Advisory Board".

He appears to have made many political donations, tracked by various services, such as the Christian Science Monitor reporting that he contributed $2,500 to the Romney campaign for US President (http://donors.csmonitor.com/l/1982552/Matherne-Ken). There, he is listed as "Self-Employed" at "Global Resources Inc.".

That "Global Resources, Inc." is a curious firm. The LinkedIn page pointed to from Mr. Matherne's entry (http://www.linkedin.com/company/global-resources?trk=ppro_cprof) says that it provides "Information Technology professionals". Other sites (http://www.salespider.com/b-56196022/global-resources-inc) claim that it provides "Amusement And Recreation Services". They also seem to lack a home page (at least one that scores sensibly in Google searches), which would seem to be a prerequisite for filling "Information Technology" positions in this day and age.

A Christina Matherne also appears on election contribution lists, and is cited as being a "manager" at Global Resources (http://www.city-data.com/elec2/elec-FOLSOM-LA.html). One presumes that she is his wife, as they appear in "The Ken and Christina Matherne Endowed Scholarship for Athletics" (http://www.lionsports.net/sports/2012/5/14/laa_0514125257.aspx?path=laa).

Re:

Re: Fluent Rodman

It works like this. Take the first half of a correctly formed or almost correctly formed sentence. Then add the second half of a different fully or almost correctly formed sentence.

You never get one completed sentence, because halfway through, the focus shifts. I heard some old ones recently on The Daily Show with John Stewart and realized that this is how the Palin dialect seemed to work.

Re:

Re:

Maybe John Steele can take his case? Even if Mr. Steele is not a member of the bar in Louisiana, that would not be an obstacle to Mr. Steele. Mr. Steele could sit in the audience front row, and whisper instructions over the railing to the Pretend lawyer.

Re:

If appears his understanding of US law is as strong as his grasp of the English language (I have friends for whom English is a second, third, and in one case fifth language whose use of proper grammar is better than these emails).

Re:

Speaking of humiliation, his daughter is humiliated right now. Second, I feel sorry for her and her mother both, since he plans to blow his family's income on lawyers and courts. His comments about how he has vast sums of money is either: Horseshit intended to intimidate, he plans on using GWF's lawyers and resources to defend his position, or he's been skimming.

Another Fine Mess I've Gotten You Into, Stanley

I've taken the trouble of tracking down the attorney who represented the Global Wildlife Center in the 2010 defamation case. He was out; I left a message with his assistant. I will seek to determine whether he still represents the Center, and if so, whether he can tell me if Mr. Matherne is authorized to be making legal threats on behalf of the Center.

Re: Another Fine Mess I've Gotten You Into, Stanley

Using a speech recognition program to write emails

In this country, a piece of software has been advertised on tv called Dragon. One use that is shown is to send emails. From what I can tell, someone with a very bad accent while drunk or drugged is using such a product to create and send the emails. Mayhaps the person in question needs someone to help them compose the material instead of trying to do it themselves. As you can be so eloquent, it might behoove you to offer your services in this matter so that something sensible is sent. if you can't do it, you might like OOTB to undertake the job.

As your country allows various things under your constitution it may well be some joker prenda to be the source sending you these messages.

The above is a very poor attempt at humour - I haven't had brekkie yet.

Re:

Re: Clearly, his keyboard is the problem.

I once left a review of a fanfic story where the author wrote very much the same as Mr Matherne. I said I thought the story had potential, but he desperately needed to get a proof-reader who used English as a primary language. He wrote an angry response back that not only was English his primary language, he was an English major in a major US university, and any problems in the story (if any) were strictly due to problems with his keyboard. Mr Matherne is clearly using the same keyboard. ;) :D

Re: Re: Clearly, his keyboard is the problem.

As scary as it may seem, there are people who actually speak the same way Matherne communicated in writing. Cultural, regional, familial... whatever the foundational cause, and as much as we prefer to believe "that's butchered language", to some people it's their distinct way of communicating.

Re:

Re:

I agree. I have supported GWF and now am totally unsure whether I will in the future. What is his salary from the GWF anyway? How much of my money ended up funding his 10K MPH jet (full of sharks with lasers on their heads)?

In Mr. Matherne's defense, he could just be feeling the effects of toxic gasses released by fracking in the 11,000-feet-deep Haynesville Shale deposits. Maybe?

Re: Re: Call Discovery Networks

That's the problem with his written diatribes... the idiocy isn't softened by a charming, rustic accent. We Yankees would marvel at the folksy wisdom of the Yellow Pages, read aloud to us by Jeff Foxworthy. Or Foghorn Leghorn.

I hope....

I hope I'm not the only one who read "dp you legally" and immediately thought of lewd sexual references. I spent 3 seconds wondering how one guy could accomplish that, and another 7 seconds wondering if that really is illegal in Louisiana.

Re: Re:

I do believe that Mr. Steele is going to be otherwise occupied for the foreseeable future. So occupied he dropped his lawsuit against the real Alan Cooper, his lawyer, and a cast of bloggers and commentators.

Oh but there is a reason!

Why am I not surprised to find something like this? I am a previous employee of GWC and I can honestly say that Ken Matherne is not a good person. He is only in the business for the money, he doesn't care about the animals (the head of operations does so they are spoiled by that lovely man), and he treats his employees horribly. He has been known to sexually harass all the girls working for him. I am trying to figure out how to report him so someone can stop him because all the girls are scared of being alone with him. But they can't say anything against him or they get fired. He is a tyrant.